November Tides.
It’s a perfect summer day.
And the sun burns waves of skin From between my shoulder blades
And while I’m digging in the sand I know I’ll pay the price of careless basking
But the castle needs a wall and moat So I shall concentrate on multi-tasking.
Andy brings a bucket full of water from the sea
While Alison goes swimming with her brothers
We’re here and though we’re just kids
We don’t need our dads or mothers
We let them come along and watch Bring a bottle full of pop but this place is ours
They’re just observers.
As the sun begins to sink our skin and faces pink
There’s nothing left to drink
The tide is quickly coming in to claim our brave sandcastle.
First the moat and then the wall start to overflow and fall, the little hill the castle’s on begins to creep
We dam the tide for one last time but are defeated.
The sea will claim it all, the flags and castle walls we always knew it.
But as we’re walking home we are wild young warriors of foam
We tell our tales of legend and broad saga. The streets we walk have rivers names , Wansbeck, Duddon, Troutbeck, Birkbeck, Eden.
For we were warriors of foam and this town we called our home stood proud against the sea and wind and weather.
This town did not give in even when the tide broke in and filled those streets and houses.
Like the sandcastles that fell, castle wall and flags as well we knew we would go back and start again the next morning
You see I’m just realising now that fewer mornings will remain to knock down beach-fortress battlements and start again
They’re getting fewer every day, new stronger bridges over troubled water need rebuilding
There are things I need to fix before the final high tide hits bringing freezing gale force winds behind it
Although it is still September now with days of Summer sunburnt skin or Autumn storm predicted
It won’t be long before November tides will rise and I have castles yet to mend back home
With those old familiar waiting warriors of foam.
